before time had a name. There was a garden, a
place where heaven and earth walked as one. This
is the Echoes of Eden, where we rediscover ancient
roots and awaken to our eternal purpose. We do
repairs, remodels, landscaping, basically upkeep
for people's house. We're leaning it more of
a ministry sense towards the people that are
unable, or maybe they just don't have the money
because everything costs so much now. Leaks,
if you got leaks, it's caused issues, or maybe
your porch has just been so weathered because
you've been unable to maintain it. We'll come
in and we'll see what we can do to help. Either
freshen it up, alter it, rebuild new ones, whatever
your budget is that we can help you get to. Alright,
so how detailed are we doing this? Like when
you say remodel and stuff like that, like how
detailed are you trying to... We're not going
to go in the whole house. If you've got a floor
to discuss some weak spots, we'll go in and we'll
fix those. Or maybe you want to put down a new
flooring. We can do that. It's like small remodels.
Yeah, patching holes and walls. No, if you want
a new window installed in your house, that's
not me. I have not began to try those on my house,
so I'm not going to say that's my expertise.
But we named it, we was looking for the name
to show we can do a ride, a wide range of things.
And some of the names I've come up with, a lot
of them have already been tooken. So when I started
looking for alternate ways of saying it, the
one that came up was versatile. And I'm like,
versatile? We're pretty versatile. You know,
we can, we can do, I can do flooring, I can do
tile work, I can do plumbing, I can do light
electrical, like I can add an outlet or I can,
you know, change switches. I can change a fixture
in the ceiling. I may be calling you. Call me.
I can do a lot. Unfortunately, you know, Can
you add like exterior outlets? Mm -hmm. Oh, I
may be calling you for that. I started recording
by the way. I figured you had, but when you looked
at it, that's why I was leaning in to get closer
so it picks up really well. You did really good.
You picked up on those signals. Yeah, I'm learning
those because I've noticed... Oh, Lord, I forgot
her name in the choir, but she gives her hand
signals. Jennifer, yeah. Jennifer, and if you
don't pick it up, then she's gonna give you a
voice signal. Yes. And I still struggle trying
to watch her, but I get caught up. When I play,
I always make sure I can see her hands. Yes,
you've got to watch them hands. And she makes
it so hard to keep up with her and not get caught
up in worshiping. I struggle a lot. I can see
that. I do. When you get into that, because people
don't know, but you do help with the lyrics and
stuff. And I've been in those moments where if
the spirit's moving, I'm taking the words off
the screen. Like if you're focused on the screen,
you are missing the point. Something else to
step into this room and get your attention off
that screen and get your attention on him. That's
just one of my things. Oh, it gets me a lot.
I have noticed last week, Barry doing hard fought
hallelujah. Yes. I heard it. I heard his heart
in it. And there was nothing. else I could focus
on I just couldn't I tried and I'm like I gotta
get back I gotta pay attention to this and it
was still just Barry his heart just pouring out
in his guitar and I'm like I give up I gotta
just hear him and I gotta thank God for what
he's doing through Barry yep and it was just
amazing and then I had to go tell him about it
because he's like oh we sounding pretty good
back here and I'm like from out there from me
your heart was just grabbing everybody because
it was poor You couldn't avoid it. There's a
difference when you sing from the heart and just
sing the thing. Mm -hmm. My fault. You can tell
when someone's doing it from... You can tell
when someone's doing it from the heart versus
I'm just doing this because I can. Mm -hmm. You
can pick up on that in the room. Yeah. I think.
Oh, I definitely know. I've seen it. So now that
we're into the conversation, tell everybody about
yourself. I think... everyone listen this is
the third trial because of my computer equipment
here but the third time yeah is a charm we got
it tell me about yourself oh man I came from
a wonderful loving home from two parents who
did not understand what a home was they stuck
together they're still together they've been
married forty four years this year My father
taught me everything about repairing, providing
for yourself. If it breaks, don't be afraid to
tear it apart and try to fix it. You know, you're
either going to fix it or you're going to mess
it up worse. You're going to create more problems.
Yeah. And you just dive right in and hope for
the best. I feel like I'm going to make more
problems when I tear stuff apart. As we all do,
especially when it's brand new and you don't
know nothing about it. If you've never installed
a garbage disposal, you'll see what I'm saying.
It's a whole mess of things to get into. But
once you've done it once, you're not so scared
of it the next time. That's true. And it kind
of goes the same with stepping out in faith.
You might be afraid to reach out and pray for
someone or to lay hands on and pray for them,
but once you do it, you break that fear. Okay,
I've done this before. I can do it. It's not
dark to me no more. I've seen the light in there.
I know where to find it. I've seen it. It touched
you. That one touched you. I've seen it light
you up. You have no idea. I'm going to feed it.
I'm going to feed that one inside of me. For
everyone listening, we actually have a back -to
-school service that we're doing tonight. We're
recording this earlier. And that's actually my
messages on being in light and the darkness.
So you're just hitting on things that you don't
even know that's in my notes from us just sitting
in here talking. That's just that's crazy, but
it We're commanded to do those things. Yeah,
like I think we get into a point of At least
have this how it was when I was growing up of
we just have to invite everybody to church because
the church is When we get them into the building,
the pastor can do his thing and we'll be good
to go. Yeah, our job was complete at that point.
But we're actually the ones who are supposed
to be the church out there and go when we see
them in the wheelchairs or whatever to say, hey,
let me pray for you. Me and Amanda actually had
this conversation last night because you hear
a lot of church people say, well, let me pray
about it or if God tells me to do something,
I'll go do it. But didn't he already tell us
to go lay hands on the stick? Like, we're waiting
for a word. Is that just us covering up our fear
of what if this don't work? What if it does?
What if it does? You missed that opportunity.
And I think, you know, I may have told y 'all
this story. I don't remember, but I want to say
mention the conference. But there's Todd White
who has a lot of videos of praying over people.
He told his testimony one time about he When
I think it was either five or ten people a day
his goal was to pray over and He would go home
and write in a journal the people that he prayed
for But he never saw anything happen But he said
he went back to the same scriptures believe in
the mark where it talks about they shall lay
hands on the sick And they will recover and that
verse never changed No, regardless of what he
saw with his natural eyes that verse stayed the
same I think he said he did this for about six
months before he ever saw his first miracle happen
in front of him. Yeah. But how many times do
we get caught up with first time I prayed, I
didn't see nothing happen, second time, nothing
happened. So maybe this changed things for me.
I struggle with remembering. I know I struggle
with remembering. I know if someone come up to
me and be like, Hey, can you pray for me or can
you pray for this person or can you pray over
this situation? I have to write them. And a lot
of people, even Pastor Jeff said he has to do
it right then because he knows we'll forget.
In 10 minutes something else has been distracted
him or he's working on and he'll forget it. Yeah.
So I think it is very important that when it
comes right then it's brought to your attention.
Do it immediately. You know the same with if
you're led to buy somebody's meal or offer gas
or give them a ride. Do it immediately, because
if you don't, God's going to look for someone
else to step in and do it, in that place. Because
it's something that He knows and He's done. He
has a purpose behind it. And I always try to
keep that in the back of my head. Do it immediately.
Don't wait. Did you act on it then? Don't wait
five minutes, five hours? Because maybe there's
an opportunity that's in front of you now that
may not be there. five minutes from now. Maybe
there's an opportunity for that individual now,
that you're the one that he has in their crossways
right now that's listening for his voice. I know
I've been in moments like, is that God, or is
that... Like, if I'm going to come up with this,
probably not. This has got to be God in this
moment. And I've learned to ask questions, so
like if I'm... Even with the teenagers, if I'm
feeling something, I'm going to ask questions,
well, do you feel this way? Or does this make
sense to you if I say it? And if they say yes,
then I know to continue pursuing it. If I miss
it, we're all human, we can miss it. But I think
you've got to be obedient to step out. Which
I think, I don't really care, we'll get to notes
or whatever, but our whole theme was supposed
to be servant leadership. And tough and tender
like Jesus, this is exactly what we're talking
about. serving other people. Well, how? One of
those ways is praying for them. Exactly. You
are being Christ to that person. You're a representation
of heaven in that moment. Like, how important
is that? I learned recently this year about interceding.
I never know what interceding was. I mean, if
you had mentioned interceding, I know what it
is, but I never realized that spiritually, You
intercede for people. When you pray for someone,
you're praying for them, and you're adding to
their prayer, or you're praying in place of them.
Because they may not have the power. They may
not have the knowledge. They just may not have
the will. And you're doing it for them. And Jesus
does that for us. Constantly. And we are to be
interceders for others. We were given a Holy
Spirit, and He is called in the Bible an interceder.
He intercedes for you. Well, you think about,
and I've heard growing up in church and stuff
that I've heard even pastors and ministers say
this kind of thing about, well, if someone don't
have the faith for it, then it may not happen.
But then you have Lazarus. Lazarus is dead. What
kind of faith does he have to get out of the
grave? Exactly. But you've got Jesus who's saying,
get up. Yeah, He had enough faith and He interceded
for Him and called Him back out of the grave.
It tells us that we can have that kind of faith
too, even if you don't believe for it. I believe
God can do it for you and show you just who He
is to you. I believe if you want to come out
of the wheelchair, I believe God can make that
happen to reveal His goodness to you and make
your life turn around. Yeah. You think about
the two young people we got in the hospital we're
praying over. They don't have the faith right
now to deal with it. They're relying in that
situation on our faith and our prayers to see
this happen. To call healing into them and to
bring them closer to God when they're not able
to speak. We're able to speak for them. And that's
part of being a servant. Speaking, going for
others when they're not able. And so you think,
so this was one of the scriptures I'd sent to
you, if you look at it in John 13, and I'll read
it for everybody. It says, this is verse 3, Now
Jesus was fully aware that the Father had placed
all things under his control, for he had come
from God and was about to go back to be with
him. So he got up from the meal, took off his
outer robe, took a towel and wrapped it around
his waist, poured water into a basin, and began
to wash the disciples' feet. Like this is Jesus
we're talking about. Creator of everything was
there in the beginning, with Father and Spirit,
all things created through Him, by Him. This
is Jesus. And it clearly says, fully aware that
the Father placed all things under His control.
Like if anybody can sit on His high stool and
say, you will serve me, He could do it. But instead,
straps a towel around him and kneels down in
front of 30 feet and begins to wash them. They're
the ones that constantly looked at him as knowing
what power he had. Yes. He knew his power. They've
watched him. They've walked with him. I watched
that yesterday when we watched the season 5 code
and that was in there. And they fought with him
about it. Which I can understand when I watched
it. I could see... I would struggle with that
too, like how would I let someone like my father,
even if like my biological father washed my feet
at my age, I would still struggle with is it
right. Now I understand now because I'm wiser
why he done it to teach them to be, to realize
that even as high as you can be, you're still
not as powerful as God. You're still under Him.
But when you pick other people above you, and
you lift others up above you, you're bringing
them closer to Him, and He sees you for it, and
knows what your heart is doing it for. And you
just think about that whole mentality from that,
even to our conversation with healing people.
If you watch, have y 'all watched about five
seasons of The Chosen? Okay, so you've seen the
moments where he's coming back from healing everybody,
and you can tell his body is just devout. It's
the same principle. He has given of himself,
worn himself out by healing numerous people,
some that may never get what happened. They may
not fully understand. I forget what story is
in the Bible where he killed a blind man. and
the Pharisees are asking, well, who healed you?
I don't know. We need to know who healed you.
All I can tell you is I was blind and now I can
see. This is the same. He doesn't do it for this
fame. He doesn't do it for look at me. He's just,
this is the heart of my father. I'm just doing
exactly what I know he's created me to do. I'm
doing exactly, I think he even says it, I don't
do anything unless I see my Father do it. I don't
say anything unless I hear Him say it. All of
it is just nothing but servant. Truly. And when
you say, you know, Him with the Father, what
the Father wanted Him to do, there's the scripture
that I had that I wrote down. and 20 he talks
about sons the son can do nothing by himself
he only sees what the father's doing whatever
the father does the son also does for the father
loves the son and shows him everything he is
doing he is teaching Jesus by doing what he's
teaching Jesus to do things and Jesus is doing
it but because he knows the Father is with him
and he's doing it with him. And Jesus was teaching
his disciples, this is what the Father wants
you to be like. He wants you to be humble enough
that even with the power he gives you, that you're
going to use it for righteousness, never for
yourself. And when as a Father you step into
your house and you do the same for your children
and you teach them Through love to wash dishes.
Through love to sweep the floor. Through love
to clean your room. You set them on a mindset
that it's no longer a punishment. It's work given
to you by the Lord that'll help others put joy
in others like your parents. But also you can
do it and have a joyful spirit about it. 100
% yeah, you know you don't always have to be
wild either one happen to clean you You can get
it around and be like, you know what? I'm gonna
clean this for my parents so they don't have
to They don't realize I did it. I'm just gonna
clean it. I ain't even gonna say it was me Yeah,
I'm waiting on my kids to do that But I know
they will one day because every day when I see
okay We take turns in the house. There's three
adults in our house We take turns cooking. There's
seven of us. We split cleaning. Sometimes you've
got to delegate it to the kids. Like, hey, pause
what you're doing, what you're enjoying yourself.
Let's take time back to the home, clean the home.
You enjoyed the meal. You didn't have to cook
it. You can at least participate in cleaning
it up as a sign of thankfulness for the meal.
Be thankful that you had food to eat. Because
we could have slapped together some hamburger
and macaroni and cheese and tomatoes and just
throw it in the pot and be like, enjoy. Yeah.
But no, we take time and we make wholesome things.
We try to make things that you like. We don't
want to do pinto beans and pot roast every night
because we know you don't like it. Yeah. We'll
do chicken nuggets for dinner. I'm not a major
fan, but I'll eat four or five. I'll suffer with
it for a night to keep you happy. I know what
you want, what you want. Exactly. And when it
comes time to, I'm not saying I'm the pot roast
lover. That's my wife. She loves pot roast. I'm
more like, give me the steak. I'll eat hot dogs
or I'll eat breakfast for dinner. I don't mind
cooking all that. It's a lot of food to cook
if you figure all the breakfast stuff. I don't
mind doing it. I know they enjoy eating it so
to me I get to see the joy of them being full
on doing it, eating it, enjoying it when it comes
time to clean up though. I need some help because
it's a lot of food gotta cook. So true. I try
to also teach them you know as you're doing things
and you know you're making a mess don't be afraid
to try to clean as you go stay focused on cooking
because lord knows you walk away for two seconds
you don't burn something yeah but when you know
you're done making them go ahead and clean that
touch your stuff back to where it's not cooking
so fast and you're not rough yeah and generally
when you can do things where you're not rushed
they come out a lot better You know, if you're
asked to sweep the floor in the kitchen, you
sweep through it in a rush because you want to
get back to your game. It's not going to come
out that great. Your mom's probably going to
make you come do it again because you missed
half of it. Because you was in a hurry. If you
just slow down and do it right the first time.
Take a little time. Be thankful to get to do
it. Most people don't have a floor. Kind of like
porous in the hair. Slow and steady wins the
race. Patience is very hard to learn, and it
starts with parents. When you start learning
to have patience with each other, then you become
the bond of each other to have patience in your
children. It makes it a lot easier. People are
visual learners. Your children are visual learners.
They hear, they see, they watch, they know. You
must remember you're always teaching them. They're
watching everything, even the things you don't
say. They're watching and learning from you.
They watch how you drive. That was a big one.
You know, been a young guy, loved cars, had a
passion for cars. I have a heavy foot. I learned
a lot about control in a car. I can do a lot
of idiotic things in a car that most people are
like, you're stupid, don't do that. But to me,
I wanted to know how to do it. I watched, you
know, the crazy TV shows with car chases and
the car sliding. I watched the drift racing.
I wanted to know how to do it. Yeah. I didn't
always pick the best location, you know. Our
public roads is not for that. This is true. And
I had to realize, okay, when I get in a road
rage, I get in a hurry, and my kids are sitting
in the car. They're learning it. They're watching.
And... That was the first real wake up when I
realized my kids were in the back cheering me
on for doing something I know I shouldn't have
been doing. That they may try to do one day.
Yeah, that they thought was exciting and I'm
teaching them to do it and they're already building
a passion for it. I'm like, no, catch yourself.
You're teaching them to do it. You got to stop.
Teaching them what could be destructive behavior.
What you know how to handle if one of the sons
was to go out and try it without having your
experience and know -how. could be destructive
for them. Yeah, because I had a lot of close
calls. Even if it was my fault or not, I had
a lot of close calls. I mean, man, that could
apply to... More than just driving. That could
relationship. People have a lot of close calls
in relationships. They could close call of either
getting tore apart or get into a negative or
bad relationship. And we were just talking about
some of this earlier about, you know, we wouldn't
talk some of this. Okay, so as men with, now
I have a son, seven months, you got two boys,
two girls, I got two girls. You think about even
the relationship standpoint and they're not taught,
and I think we've had this conversation too,
they're not taught how to, what is a husband?
What is the expectation? of the man in the home.
What's the expectation of a dad? Like, these
are things that was just kind of, in some ways,
in no disrespect to my parents, was kind of like
just figure it out. There was never, I don't
remember anyone actually stepping away and teaching
these things. So like even if you think about
sex and stuff like that, that's not discussed
in the church. And we've had, me and Amanda's
had these conversations as the youth pastors
and stuff, even in previous churches of, if we
don't discuss it here and help explain to a young
teenage boy who's got hormones raging, hey, it's
normal. It's okay. There's a right way to do
this. And there's a path. There's a path to take.
We'll help you. But just jumping from bed to
bed is not going to be your answer. And trying
to figure it out on your own is not the way to
do it because you're just going to make more
mistakes, a bigger mess. But if we as men in
the house, as dads, as husbands, if we as the
church don't talk about these kind of topics,
we're not doing the next generation any favors.
No, we're just blindly leading the blind. Because
if what we remain silent on, the world will be
sure enough to help build them with anything
and everything in between. Yeah, and not in a
righteous way. Not in a righteous way. In the
exact opposite. And you're going to have failed
marriages, you're going to have just kids out
of wedlock, broken homes, broken homes. How many
young, okay, let's just be honest, how many young
girls will have abortions because the boys they
were with were not ready for all that. Stuck
in what I've heard called the dude phase. It's
a young boy. mentality of a young boy walking
around in a grown man's body. And so she doesn't
feel like she can raise the child, so now we
have an abortion happening. Well, what does that
do for that teenage girl who just had that? You
don't think the enemy is going to use that at
some point? Always going to try to drag the past
on them. Do you remember what you did? Now you're
trying to settle down, get your life right. What
about that child you had many years ago that
you had to let go because you weren't ready then?
Yep. You were doing your own thing back then.
And then we have guilt and shame. Two of the
heaviest burdens people can carry. Very heavy.
I don't wish them on anybody. Even a little bit
of guilt. Because then what happens, you try
to start feeling when that guilt shows up, the
enemy starts, you can medicate this, you can
drink your sorrows away, you can do all these
different things, the enemy will try to help
you deal with guilt. when the place you need
to run to is the father's feet. Yeah, and get
in his word. One of my things that I'm sure you
feel the same way just hearing you talk is as
a dad, if my kids mess up, I don't want them
to run away from me. I want them to run to me.
And that was something that took me and my wife
to work together on for me to understand how
to do it. Me and you both? I was blown away.
It wasn't until I realized my kids will go to
my wife before they will me. And at first, I
kind of was. I still got to break some of that.
That might be the way it's meant to be. Maybe
it's supposed to be like that. In the beginning,
I was bond to it. Then I'm like, wait a minute.
When I try to talk to my kids about something,
they get defensive or they're afraid to talk
to me about it, there's something wrong. Let
me go back and fix what I did wrong because I
know I messed up somewhere. I'm still walking
through some of that. And I realized that going
back and trying to fix it was not happening.
You're better off to start trying to fix it from
that point. Just right here. Watching your reaction.
The greatest thing I learned was patience. Don't
react quick. This is, see this is the whole reason
for by listening that I wanted to bring you on
this podcast for me and because That right there
is something you mentioned when we had the youth
conference in the panel, and it just stuck with
me about, you know, when your kids be kids and
do something stupid, instead of reacting right
then, which anger could sit in whatever, you
have to sometimes walk away before coming back
and addressing something. I feel like the devil
tried to use that in the beginning with me years
ago. My excuse was, when you hear my voice, I
want instant reaction out of my kids. Yeah. For
a safety thing. If you're running across a parking
lot and you hear me scream, stop. There's a reason.
You're going to react quick. You're going to
panic. You're going to stop. And that's not the
way you don't want your kids to react out of
fear. Because fear reactions are uncontrolled
reactions. 100%. You want fast, controlled reactions
with your kids. So building the bond of trust
calm reaction slow the anger Makes Positive reaction
from your kids. Yeah, so when you're calm you're
Generally easy going with your kids Then they
know by the tone in your voice if it's serious
or not. They don't have a negative reaction.
They will go positively like That's my dad. Let
me go see what he wants. Instead of being like,
oh god, that's my dad. What does he want? Yeah.
You can get a better reaction out of it and still
get the same effect. You'll probably get it quicker.
Yeah, because the positive attitude. Yeah. They
will be quicker about it compared to being like,
fear. Like, oh god, he screamed at me. What did
I do wrong compared to, oh, thank you. He's calling
me. He must have something great for me. Same
thing works with our relationship with God. I
was going to say, yeah, 100%. When He speaks
to me, it's no longer I'm in trouble. It's, oh,
He's answered my prayer. He's got something for
me. This is what I've been praying for. Which
one is it? Is it for Him to use me? Is it for
somebody needs me? Is it for a word for the day
for God or knowledge? Yeah. And I get excited
when I hear Him. Because just like your best
friend, You wait for them to call. If you ain't
heard from them in a while, you're going to call
them. Hey, are you OK? Because I ain't heard
from you today. You ain't sleeping, are you?
You feeling all right? And I seek him more when...
How do I say it? I seek him more now through
even little things than I ever did before. You
know? Typical person seeks for the big things.
You know, oh, I got a bad doctor for it. Oh,
I got finance problems. I don't have to seek
him through those because I know he's there.
I only seek him through little things. You know,
oh, last night something didn't sit right with
me. Me and my wife were talking. We may not agree
on that. How do I talk to her about how I feel
without upsetting her? Or my child's dealing
with a new experience that I've never dealt with.
If I tell them what I'm thinking, they're not
going to listen. Holy Spirit, how do you... Let
me go talk to someone. Give me some wisdom here.
Yeah, that knows about these things. And I've
been told several times, go talk to an elder.
Go seek this person who's an elder in your church
or in your community. Because they'll have the
advice to come. You're seeking out wisdom. God
knows all, but sometimes... He wants you to pull
it out of others to break that fear of talking
to other people, seeking advice from other people.
Well, I'm pretty sure not to look it up, but
I'm pretty sure there's a scripture about seeking
out wisdom. And there's wisdom in a multitude
of counsels. Oh, I'm sure there's a lot of truth
to that. I didn't realize this, but I was told
this in something I was studying the other day
that stuck to me and I had to write it down.
The New Testament talks about anger over 200
times. Talks about anger. I didn't know that.
I didn't either. I mean, surely I know it talks
about anger. You got to learn how to guide your
anger. Yeah. Well, it even says be angry, send
not. That was after Jesus, and 200 times after
he had come and taught, they still have to teach
people how to deal with anger. Yeah. And I think
anger is one of the broadest doors you can invite
sin in your house. Because anger leads to uncontrolling,
without control. Then why else would it say be
angry, sin not? Because what does anger open
the door for? If you don't take those moments,
like you said at the conference, if you don't
take those moments to step away, And actually,
like you said a while ago, how do I handle this
situation? Instead of just being reactive to
something and damaging a relationship or whatever
because you flew off the handle and said something
you didn't mean to say. What can open the door?
What does anger open the door to? Negative, hurt.
You slap the handle, smack somebody. So much
things that you just don't want in your family.
You don't want it in your home. You don't even
want to welcome it around you. And patience is
what defeats it. Anger is a normal emotion. Oh
God, put that in it. You know. But it's how you
deal with that emotion. Jesus had to deal with
that when he turned over the table from the tavern.
He was angry. for what they had turned it into,
the trading and the selling and the buying and
the cheating of people over money. He used anger.
That is an emotional god -giver to use in righteousness,
not in unrighteousness, unclean ways. Never supposed
to use it in a point of actually harming people.
So I'll mess with you now, just because I didn't
know that was going to come up again, but it
was actually in my notes too about when he goes
into the temple, flips the table. and makes the
comment, you know, you've made this a den of
thieves. This is a house of prayer. I was reading
and studying actually something this past week
on that. And if you step back and really think
about what's happening, because I've always heard
it in our discussion before about you got churches
that have coffee shops and bookstores. Well,
they're making the den of thieves or whatever.
If you look at what they were doing, what were
they selling in the temple? Sacrifices. Sacrifices
for what? Sin. Which means the only reason I
was going to the temple was because I was conscious
of sin that I committed and I need to go get
a sacrifice for. And repent. And Jesus was basically
saying, number one, he's the ultimate sacrifice.
But number two is I never made you to be aware
of your sin constantly. Because as long as you
dwell on the sin, you're never going to focus
on him. True. If you're only focused on, this
is what I've done and I've got to clean up, you're
never going to self -help yourself. You can't
get past it. Just as Ray can't fix Ray, Chris
can't fix Chris, we have to go to those moments
and say, Holy Spirit, I've done something wrong.
What is it? Show me what it is. So it was never
about the whole money part of it. He's flipping
tables and all this stuff in the temple because
they have made this to be a sin -conscious environment
to where people are so conscious of everything
they've done wrong, that they've got to go to
the temple to get a sacrifice. And I just want
you to come to the temple for me. And they were
charging astronomical for taxes. And then I want
you to realize that you are the temple now. And
I don't need you to focus on it. If you go back
and read the Gospels and how Jesus interacted
with people that he interacted with, he only
ever tells them, follow me. and pulls them out
of some of the darkest places. And did not have
to address whatever they were dealing with. He
just said, follow me. They did the whole interaction
with Judah. I was kind of interested in watching
it, but I kind of hold a don't get connected
to it in my heart. And I know that's what the
director wanted to do. He wanted to put it through
what Jesus' disciples were dealing with at that
time. And you got to remind yourself not to get
entranced like this is someone's vision or thoughts
of what they proceed to happen. In which he had
a group of people come together for it. Absolutely.
But when they got with Judas and Judas had so
much guilt piled on him and Jesus could see it
See it into his heart and he even told him several
times in there. I had your heart before You you
know, I don't have your heart now and even to
the point Jesus has all this piled on him and
Jesus is washing his feet How he kept from breaking
I don't understand but I love how they just let
it be seen. They never hid how much guilt Judas
had on him in those times. Not just that, and
I didn't pick up, I think Amanda sent me a video
maybe last week or last about someone talking
about Judas. I had to go back and read it because
I was like, I don't remember hearing this, but
if you look at how the disciples interacted with
Jesus, they was all Lord, except for Judas. Judas
called him teacher. Yes. So it's all about how
do you see Jesus personally? Because everyone
else in the room understood that he was Lord
in that moment. He was Lord, period. But for
some reason, you still only saw him as a teacher.
Is that because he... I haven't read Judas all
the way. I've only glanced through what's, you
know, popped up or what I've been led to pull
up and research or double back and check. I think
he battled what a lot of people, even my wife,
battle is they don't understand because the time
frames are so different. Not only the fact that
we battle the distractions, they never even thought
about what would be in their distraction realm
now. For us to see it back through third time,
you really have to go back and realize they had
nothing entertaining. Unless it was themselves
singing and dancing, or if the community might
have had something going on, like singing and
dancing from a wedding. Generally, there was
no entertainment back then. I can see that. He
constantly loathed and bathed in that guilt.
How it didn't break him, I don't understand.
I still do not understand. I would have broke.
I couldn't help it. Is this the same time when
he looks at Judas and says, go do what you've
got to go do? Yes. It's in John 13, isn't it?
I believe so. Because he was trying to get Judas...
Yeah, he was trying to get Jesus not to preach.
It was in that whole period where he's washing
the feet, and then after that, someone's going
to betray me and all this. And he looks at Judas
and says, go do what you've got to go do. And
the other disciples didn't even pick up on what
was happening. They thought, one of the notes
I have somewhere talked about, they thought he
was just going to go count the money like he
typically does. They had no idea that he was
the one. that Jesus was referring to. And Jesus
never exposed him. Wouldn't, would not. Even
when he was literally sitting right beside him,
he never would expose him. Never, never exposed
him. Other than, some theologians I've read say
that John may have knew, because I know Peter
asked John, because John's the one leading on
the breast, and he says, ask him who's been a
betrayer. And someone put that Jesus may have
whispered, the one who did. The one I broke bread
with. Broke bread with me. And so John may be
the only person to know. I think it was James.
I'd have to go back and watch it, but I thought
it was James who told John, which is Simon, that
it was Judas who he broke bread with. It could
be. That's how it was portrayed in The Chosen.
I know that, but I'm pretty sure it was James
who he was talking to. I'd have to go back and
read it, but it's just... still the fact that
Jesus knew what was happening this whole time.
Washing his feet and then tells him, go ahead,
go do what you gotta go do. You gotta betray
me, go ahead. When they, I know we've gotten
way off between the teachers and servants. That's
fine. When Jesus was praying at that time in
the olive grove and He had John and all them
watch for him. And he kept catching them sleeping.
And there they portrayed him having the vision
of the one who went to sacrifice his son. Abraham.
When he went to sacrifice his son. And the son
asked, he's like, Dad, we got the firewood. But
we don't have the sacrifice. Where's the sacrifice?
And Abraham and Elizabeth said, the Lord will
provide the land. And I think they portrayed
that great Jesus realizing, you're called to
be this land. You're going to sacrifice yourself
for these people. I need you to do this because
nobody else is able. And from that point on,
he did it with a grateful heart. He's like, OK,
this is what I'm here for, for your people, for
my people, for this church to sacrifice myself
for. And that taught me sacrificing myself daily,
denying what I want, for my kids I'm now teaching
them. Yeah, you come home from school, you want
to go do what you want to do, you want to relax.
If it's playing your video game, or stop playing
basketball, you know that. But when me and your
mother are telling you, alright, before you do
what you want to do, give time to God. Spend
10 or 15 minutes. Thank him for, you know, you
made it home safely from school. Yeah. Thank
him that you come home to a house that has power,
that has food in it, that has running water.
You're able to make yourself something. You're
not sitting here with a couple crumbs in the
cabinet waiting on a parent who works three jobs
to come home with whatever little leftover they
can afford to share with you. Find things constantly
to be thankful for. And the more you practice
being humble, Practice showing that you're humble,
the more things God blesses you with. So, if
you come home and you're like, oh thank you God,
we made a home safely. Oh, come out of the shower,
thank you God, we got, you know, a shower. I'll
humble myself. I don't always take a hot shower.
I try to at least once a week take a cold one.
That humbles me for the next time when I take
that hot shower, like, oh it's so amazing to
have hot water. Deny myself. helps me draw closer
to God and also when my kids watch me deny myself
they're learning you got to deny yourself you
have to die daily for what you want and teach
your kids that mm -hmm yeah you would love to
go home keep your feet up watch whatever you
enjoy watching doing whatever you enjoy doing
but you realize when you get home your home still
growing it's still got things to do You might
have run out the door with a messy kitchen. Or,
you know, one of your kids might have made a
mess in the bathroom. You didn't realize. You
come back home, you thought sitting down. No,
you've got to suffer what you want and go take
care of what needs to be taken care of. That
teaches kids to forget about themselves. And
when you can forget about yourself and what you
want, you can forget about a lot of your problems.
Serving others helped me to realize my problems
are not that big. I can, you know, I can forget
about a lot of things. Knee pain. I can forget
about that. It's hard. You start wrapping that
towel around yourself and seeing other people.
Yeah. And you start going for others and often
your problems are not that big. You know, they're
nothing. Yep. I used to battle having sleep problems.
Sleep four or five hours a night. Couldn't sleep
no more. I'd be up. My thing was, okay, if you're
not sleeping enough at night, you're not working
hard enough throughout the day. That's a half
truth. You need to work hard throughout the day.
It does not have to be a manual, rough, you know,
blood, sweat, and tears labor. It can be a labor
for someone else. And your humbleness for doing
it for others gives you peace at night where
you can sleep earnestly, restfully. You can come
alive the next day feeling amazing. Sure can.
And literally you might have only helped somebody
sweep floors the next day before. You might not
even hardly broke a sweat, but your soul will
give you peace to sleep at night with no issues.
And I was blown away when I first figured this
out and started doing it. I sleep so much better
now. I mean, 90 % of the time, you know, when
your spirit's tired and you need to rejuvenate
your spirit, you, I'm learning that. There's
a day you don't have to stop and you got to rejuvenate
yourself. Your spirit needs rejuvenation. It
has to be recharged. Yes. And that day, for me,
was Thursday. Yeah, Thursday. I was just run
down, didn't want to do nothing. didn't feel
like they didn't have energy and it wasn't until
that night when I laid down and I was getting
woke up at three o 'clock in the morning I'm
like okay there's something in me that's not
happy and I got to figure out what it was and
it was my spirit needed recharge I hadn't took
time and just relaxed thought about what God
had done for me throughout that week how he blessed
me 100 % and got back my spirit connected to
the charger and recharge myself for the next
week. I'm recharged now. I'm feeling great. I
prayed a lot. I cried a lot that day. Saturday
morning when we come in, we've done the corporate
prayer here. That hour felt like five minutes.
It was about so fast and I'm laying there, I'm
like... I felt like five minutes and I just looked
over at my phone and I'm like... It's the same
one, you know, you mentioned a while ago, but
what I try to tell the teenagers is just start
with five minutes, just five minutes with God,
whatever that looks like. I don't know if I've
told this group yet, but we have told a group
before, like how many go to the bathroom at least
once a day and you're in there for like 10 minutes?
I said, how many have one of these little doohickeys?
I said, there's a Bible app. I said, if that's
where it starts, I said, my God, at least do
something. I said, you can't tell me you don't
have five minutes that you can give. But the
more you do that, the more it becomes just like
what you just said. The five minutes turns into
an hour that only feels like five minutes. But
it's amazing, though, because if you really think
about that, he can redeem time. Oh yeah. So if
you spend two hours with him and need to go get
something done, there's something, and I've heard
stories about this, where God can make a way
for that still gets done and you still feel like,
how did I do that? How did that work? How did
that work the way you did? I have felt things
like that. I want to say I have been a part of
it, but I'm not 100 % on remembrance. But I know
that like, Trying to do a favor for someone else
might have interfered with my plan or something
I needed to get through and Because I'm like,
you know what? I'll forget myself. I'll reschedule
that I'll do it later or you know, I'll just
whatever time I get through it when I get through
it and Because I give up myself God made a way.
Oh you made it just a time with something somebody
Yeah, come on in, you know, we made a way for
you. Come on in We got it taken care of. And
he will do that a lot. It's just crazy. It's
amazing. I love it. When we talk to some friends
of ours about where we live at, we don't brag
about our house. We have a 100 -year -old farmhouse.
We opened up one of the walls the other day because
we were replacing our door. We have a 32 -inch
door, a standard exterior door, 36. We have to
redo that whole setup. We pour into our walls
and look we have all rough cut lumber We have
true 2x4s and true 4x4s all in our house And
I had to stop and just look at it and be amazed
like how old my house is We have no insulation
in the walls we build out I'm pretty sure our
house is the same way But I took a video the
other last week when it was storming in Mount
Mary but not at all off the mountain because
we have a mountain view that looks over North
Carolina. Oh wow. And I took a picture and I'm
sitting there looking at it and I'm like, it's
so easy for me to walk outside and be humbled
just for what I have around me just by looking.
Because I have amazing views that most people
can't even paint. I know I couldn't paint them.
So the fact that God gave them to me and put
me there to see all the time, I have to constantly
just be thankful for it. There's no other way
I could be. A grateful heart. I have to be. I
couldn't even see no other way of being for it.
That's crazy. But those kind of views, though,
you can't... Man, I mean, every time I look at
it, it never, never ceases to just bring amazement
out of me. And you know, I don't know if you
have thoughts like this, but when you see stuff
like that, and it's like, and he created me,
died for me and you. Yeah. But then I get to
see this. Yeah. I've got to be a part of this.
Sometimes if you really think about it and let
it get to you, it's overwhelming when you think
about it. I think it sets off anxiety in my wife,
but to me it sparks excitement. I guess we're
men and women are so much different. What triggers
anxiety in me will spark excitement in her. What
sparks anxiety in her can spark excitement in
me. I can be grateful for it. And I got to teach
my kids also to look at that. Don't get overwhelmed
from what you see. Yes, it's great. Take it in.
Understand how powerful it is. But don't let
it overwhelm you. It's not in your control. It
don't have to be. Yeah. You know, storms going
on around our house. It's not in our control.
We can't do nothing other than sit here and thank
God that our house ain't falling. Yeah. Or that
we still have power. You know, we've lost power
at our house for five days. The first two years
we lived there, we never lost power more than
an hour. My mom kept losing it, and she lives
down in Arad at the bottom of the mountain. We
never lost it. And then last year, three different
times, we're hit a week at a time with no power.
My parents never lost it. I was more thankful
for me to lose power than my parents, because
my parents are all disabled. They ain't on heart
machines or monitors or anything that requires
electricity, but... I got to choose one of the
two of us. Yeah, I know I can survive. I can
get outside and cook on a grill and make food
for my family. My father's in a wheelchair. He
can't do that. Especially in a rainstorm. I wouldn't
even begin. I would have to go down there and
do it for him. Yeah. And I'm still visioning
my look off of my property, and I'm still just
like, I smile about it. Ever show it to you?
Uh -uh. Oh, Lord. I'm going to show you this
picture. It's actually a little video. I did
the picture first. But I like the video. You
gotta hit the play button on this. Oh my goodness.
We'll give him a minute to look at this. Oh my
goodness. And if you're looking about, you can
see Winston Salem. I'll zoom in, you can see
the building from Winston Salem. King. Yeah,
that's, that's uh... You can't paint that. You
can't, yeah. You can't do nothing with that.
I mean, I'm sure somebody could, but that's just
wild to look at. Right? So I walk outside every
morning, because that's my routine. My wife always
talk about picking your first part of your day
and dedicating it to God. God forgive me. The
first thing I gotta do is go to the restroom.
I'm gonna get over. When I get up, I'm gonna
go to the bathroom. And then I'm going to find
me something to drink because my mouth's dry.
I just gave up my fluids I had. And then the
next thing I'm going to do is I'm going to go
sit down, generally outside, where it's quiet
and I'm not disturbed. And I have to sit down,
get comfortable, realize I've got to feed animals.
There's my cat screaming at me, or my kid's cat,
or the dog's one outside. I have to stop what
I'm doing, tend to them. Take care about that.
I've read, you know, I'm not an animal. Lover
like I don't hate animals, but I'm not like I'm
not gonna make it mine. You're okay if they're
not there, too Yeah, yeah, it don't bother me
if I didn't have But now that they're at my house.
I know okay I want to sit down and I want to
spend time with God but God wants me to provide
for my animals first get the distraction out
of the way because if you sit down beforehand
you're not going to know they're just gonna distract
me and I can't I can't give him what I 100 %
so when I sit down outside and I Pull up either
my Bible app or if I just sit there and I start
praying and thanking him my days go so much smoother
and My relationship with my wife and kids Don't
get attacked as bad because I started off my
day with the first things first and Me and crystal
learned that in marriage. We learned that in
our relationship. We didn't get married We went
six or seven years together off and on fighting
breaking up before we ever decided to get married
looking back after nine or ten years of marriage
I think it was like seven years why wait why
did I wait I know now why I waited I was scared
yeah I was terrified of who she was and that
I couldn't control it and I wouldn't marry her
but then I realized When you build a house if
you don't protect it with the right insurance
You're gonna constantly live in worry losing.
Yeah, so when we got married we basically insured
our marriage we put God in our marriage and a
lot of attacks got Blocked took away and we didn't
battle those things no more then we were able
to work on the married and adjust to each other
to create this bond that God wanted us to have
and with him. Now it took a long time for the
glue to get mixed up you know yeah because I
didn't follow God as closely as I should. I was
a Sunday and pray for me when I needed it. I
didn't take time pray for others. I didn't take
time and realize how much my kids needed that.
But when my eyes were open to it, then I knew,
okay, you got to teach your kids while you're
being taught yourself because you want to teach
yourself. And that's in the Bible. You got to
teach and be taught. Even if you're teaching
your kids and you're learning yourself. Yes,
I know I've seen this so much that we wasn't
taught because They were distracted. And how
many times I learned through my kids. Ain't that
amazing? There's been a number, I've told Katelyn
before, I know I'm supposed to be your dad and
teaching you, but there's so many times she teaches
me stuff and I'm like, wow. Don't tell my oldest
son this. I got my boldness from him. I was not
a bold person. I was a very shy person. I didn't
step out. boldly I was not that person but when
I started watching my 8 year old do it walk up
to a group of strange guys and just become one
of them instantly like bonded sometimes he goofed
up sometimes they laughed at it it may not have
been all five of them in the crowd that he got
their attention but if he got the attention of
one he got in and he done what he set out to
do which was to become part of that crowd And
he was bold about it, and now I am now bold about
it because he taught me that. And now I took
what I've learned from it and grew it, and I'm
teaching our others about it. If I can get my
wife to do it. My wife can lead our girls. We
did get her on the panel. That was a shock, even
for our kids. They're like, I can't believe you
got mom up there. There was something. God moves
somewhere. I think Christie was up there with
the biggest help. I can see that. You know, women
battle the same things that men do in fear, anxiety,
and stuff. They need someone that's not afraid
to step out in that boldness to call the others
into it. And they will. And I think it helps,
as men, we help push them. Oh, yeah. You can
do this. You got this. Oh, yeah. Same with the
kids. You can do this overcome that the next
biggest thing that I've been Pursued of his practice
we talked about this on the panel. I still talk
about it with my kids. You got a practice You
got a practice been humble. You got a practice
been remorseful. You got a practice when you
sin and you repent, you got to practice repenting.
You're not going to do it right the first time.
You're not going to walk around and be like,
God, I'm so sorry, please forgive me. That might
be your practice one, but you better get serious
about it. You got to find the meaning in it.
Because you just saying you're sorry constantly
is not really doing nothing. No, because you
got to make sure that you're learning from your
apology. You're not going to do it no more because
you know how much you've had to go through just
to repent. Yep. Practice is a big thing in my
house. You know, I know to people that are big
in sports, you gotta practice. You gotta practice.
Same thing with your Bible. You gotta practice.
You gotta practice reading it. You can't sit
down and read your Bible in five minutes and
think that you learned something because you
got distracted. You gotta learn to get rid of
distractions. You gotta practice it. And in time,
you know, nobody wakes up 6 o 'clock in the morning
Chipper ready to go sit down, drink coffee, and
read the Bible. Those people scare me. If there's
anyone like that, those people will scare me.
I'm probably going to scare you because when
I learned it, it didn't take me long. I was a
fast learner. It took me like two weeks to realize
I can sit in peace. I've always knew that first
thing in the morning was my time. More of the
people that can wake up to Chipper, like I need
you to have some coffee or something before you
just get out Chipper. Well, when the... When
you sleep right, you can wake up in a great mood.
This is true. Because when I was a teenager,
I was the guy, the teenage boy that got up all
happy. That was me. And I kicked off all of the
house. Because they're like, why are you in such
a good mood? And I'm like, I slept fine. I don't
know what y 'all did. Yeah. Nothing to stir my
sleep. I slept great. I wake up like a million
dollars. Let's do this. This has probably been
my longest podcast, and I don't want to really
close it, but it's getting close to 430. Let
me ask you a couple questions and get your feedback.
I'll try to make a short answer. What advice
would you give to a man trying to lead like Jesus
in a culture that rewards domination? Read it
one more time. What advice would you give to
a man who's just trying to lead his family like
Jesus? What's something that you've learned through
your own battles that you could help. I could
probably go just a couple of minutes, but how
would you talk about the whole practice thing?
What would you tell a man if he's trying to lead
like Jesus? React in a way that you would want
to be reacted to. So put yourself in the child's
shoes. So if you told your child, look, there's
only two cookies left. One's mine and one's your
mama's. and ten minutes later you come back and
yours was eaten, or your momma's, you know, your
wife was eaten, of course you're going to give
up yours to your wife. But when you call your
child in there, you already know which child
did it. They got the cookie crumbs on their shirt,
some stuck to their lip, you know who did it.
You want to be serious, but you also want to
communicate the, you want to explain the guilt
that they feel. Because to a child, they don't
understand what guilt is. They just have a feeling
inside that they know they did wrong, and they
don't understand it. So when you explain to them
why they feel like that, and what brought that
feeling on, they're not going to want that feeling
back no more. And you can help with being that
way. Alright, so last one. If Jesus led your
home or your workplace, whatever, you have your
own business, If Jesus was to walk in and lead
your home or your business, what would change
tomorrow? That's something maybe that you're
working on now in life. What would change if
Jesus walked into my home and started to lead
it? No pressure. No, it wouldn't be a lot more
corrections for me, I would say. Him. Kind of
like the owner and the supervisor would get together
in their private meetings. The same in the home.
I'm the leader of the home. So Jesus would take
me aside and be like, look, these are your weak
areas. These are what you need strength in. This
is where I want you to pay attention because
I'm going to take over in these aspects. And
he's going to do the right thing. He would teach
me the same way that he taught his disciples.
It gives a whole new meaning to, when you're
weak, I'm strong. Yeah. And He wants you to be
weak. I didn't know that. He wants you to be
weak and I'm like, why? Because when you can
admit that, then you have to rely on Christ in
me to do this. I have to rely on Him when I'm
weak. He is my strength and to realize that I
can't be strong without Him. It brings tears
to the eyes to think about it, but that's what
He wants. That's exactly what He wants. And you
got to teach your kids to be the same way. To
be weak. But isn't that what we, as bad as that,
not what we want our kids to rely on us for?
Hey, when you're weak at something, like... I
don't think you would want them to be weak. Not
necessarily weak, but you enjoy those moments
when they come to you, like, Dad, how do I do
this? Yeah. Makes you, like, makes you feel important.
Yeah. Whether if they know how to do it or not,
they could be just doing it to benefit you. It's
just, to me, I guess it's just like, he's put
stuff already inside of us. Yeah. But we're relying
on him, like, well, help me figure this out.
I know you put stuff in me, but okay, here's
this podcast. I know this is in me, but you can't
help me with this. Where do I go with it? Yeah.
What questions do I ask, you know? How do we
make this work? I sent you a whole list of stuff.
We didn't touch hardly any of it. The stuff was
just an outline. It was like a fenced in yard.
We got in a play. I told you, don't ever think
it, and whenever we start talking, this is how
we're going to roll. Yeah, it worked out great.
And if it helps one man, then I'm all for it.
I'm all for it. Heavenly Father, thank you for
such a wonderful blessing you bestowed upon us
daily. gifts we receive that we may not even
realize are gifts. They just come so naturally
from you. We may overlook them. God, these words
that you have given us to share, we pray for
them to reach out and touch who you know they
need to touch, to guide them, draw them closer
to you, and build the relationship with you that
we have and stronger to keep the faith. Thank
you for all that you have blessed us with. Holy
be your name. Thank you, Father God. Amen. Amen.
Thank you, Ray. I appreciate it. I enjoyed it.
Me and you both. We're going to do this tomorrow.
Yes, sir.